


The Way Things Must Be

by Cookies_and_Chaos



Category: Malory Towers - Enid Blyton
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Flashbacks, Gen, domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28155564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookies_and_Chaos/pseuds/Cookies_and_Chaos
Summary: No matter how much Gwen might want to tell someone, she can't. Written for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020, Day 7, "Seven Broken Pieces".
Comments: 7
Kudos: 4
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020





	The Way Things Must Be

**Author's Note:**

> Reiterating the tags - Content Warning: Parental domestic abuse emotional/psychological.

Gwen had quite forgotten the comb was still there. Her beautiful comb. She reached out and stroked the delicate engraving along the handle, tracing her great-grandmother's initials. She should have thrown it away. It was no use now, whyever had she kept it? 

Ever so carefully, she lifted the comb with both hands, as though reverence and caution would undo the damage and return the precious item whole unto her hands.

"Gwen? Is everything alright?"

Mary-Lou's voice was gentle but it made Gwen jump all the same and the comb tumbled to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Mary-Lou said, "let me."

Before Gwen could tell her not to, Mary-Lou had hurried forward and gathered up the comb from where it had fallen.

"Oh Gwen, it's broken," Mary-Lou said, "I'm so sorry. Do let me replace it or pay to get it fixed."

Gwen snatched the comb back from Mary-Lou. "It's fine."

"But—"

"It was already broken." Gwen set the comb back inside her trunk and closed the lid. The dull thud of the lid and the sharp click of the latches cut the silence and Gwen wished that she had simply gotten on with unpacking her trunk like she had meant to do.

"You hadn't finished unpacking..." Mary-Lou said.

"Never you mind that, I shall finish later." Gwen straightened up and brushed down the front of her tunic, as though brushing out wrinkles or brushing away lint, neither of which were there. At least with Mary-Lou, though she might see through the charade, she would never dream of pointing such things out. Especially not to Gwen.

"I'm here if you want to talk Gwen." But Mary-Lou might say something like that and knock all the breath from Gwen and leave her with an emptiness in her lungs that ached so deeply Gwen thought it may never end. The words brought every split second of what had happened back in flashes until it was all Gwen could think about, all she could see.

The dreadful sound of heavy steps moving around her room, finding trinkets and pretties and precious memories that Gwen held onto so dearly. His voice, so cruel and demeaning as he chose exactly what to say to keep her in line. The words, oh the words he chose were ones picked with precision. Gwen could feel the sharpness of them hitting just beneath her ribs. People wondered why she avoided Alicia Johns the way she did after every hols, they could hardly have imagined that it was that smooth, sharp voice that sent shivers down her back and ice shards into her chest. A word Alicia would say with _just_ the same intonation and Gwen would find her mind taking her right back to home.

Worst of all were his eyes and how he watched her for the brief change in her face, searching for the sign that he had found the perfect possession upon which to enact his show of control. Gwen had tried so hard this time, she truly had, to keep her face steady and clear and, for a while, it had worked. She could see the frustration settling in wrinkles around her father's eyes and in creases on his brow. His words became crueller, turning to the topic of her grades and lack of friends. "You're lucky," he had said, "were you my son, you'd have been on the receiving end of a belt by now. Girls punishments are much gentler, it's why they step out of line so."

And Gwen knew that was a lie — not the threat of what he would have done were she a boy, oh no, she knew that would be true — but, even so, she found herself wanting to believe it, wanting to believe that he was just doing what a good father would do and if she only worked harder at school or made a friend, a truly special friend, then he would come back as the father she remembered from when she was young.

If only she had managed not to react when he put his hand on her comb. The memory of the snap as he clutched it in his hands and twisted was as clear as when it had happened. The warmth of hot tears on her cheek felt so real that Gwen had to pat her face to check that she wasn't sobbing in front of Mary-Lou.

Mary-Lou was still waiting for an answer.

How was Gwen to tell anyone any of that? It was a family matter and you simply couldn't, mustn't, discuss those with anyone else. No matter how much Gwen wanted to spill her soul to someone kind and warm who would listen, someone she knew would tell her that none of this was her fault...

No, Gwen couldn't tell Mary-Lou any of it.

"No, thank you." Gwen was pleased at the strength in her voice. "I don't need you gossiping with any of the others about my business."

Mary-Lou looked hurt and that hurt would distract her from what she had seen. This way, if she did say anything to the others — and truthfully, Gwen really did not think she would — it would just be that Gwen was as miserable and stand-offish as always, and really why did they keep trying to bother with her term after term when all she did was snap and bite at them the way she did?

Mary-Lou left without another word and Gwen pressed her lips together so she wouldn't call out an apology. This was simply the way it had to be.


End file.
